UIF stalled claim rescue
Somebody who used to work for you cannot claim, and the Fund says there is no record of them. Usually that means the registration was never done, or the declarations stopped at some point, or UIF was deducted from wages and never paid over. It is a fixable problem and it gets worse with waiting. We bring the record up to date and tell you exactly what it will cost to close.
UIF stalled claim rescue costs R1 290 at ProperSA. That is our fixed service fee; government and authority fees are charged at cost on top. If you give us everything we ask for and we still fail to deliver what this page promises, we refund our fee; a refusal by the authority is not refundable.
Independent paperwork service. ProperSA is an independent private company, not the Department of Employment and Labour. You can do all of this yourself at no charge through the Department of Employment and Labour. Our R1 290 pays for reconstructing the record, preparing and submitting the backdated declarations, and dealing with the Fund until your former employee can claim.
How you got here
Almost nobody arrives at this on purpose. The usual story is a business that registered for PAYE but not for UIF, or one that registered years ago and stopped declaring when the bookkeeper left, or a household that paid a domestic worker properly for a decade without ever knowing the Fund existed. Then somebody loses their job, tries to claim, and the whole thing surfaces at once, normally with that person phoning you every day because they have no income.
What you get for R1 290
- A full record checkWhat the Fund actually holds for your business and for the person who cannot claim, so we are fixing the real gap rather than a guessed one.
- Registration, if it was never doneUI-8 employer registration and your UIF reference number, backdated to when you first employed someone.
- Backdated declarationsThe employee declarations for every period that is missing, reconstructed from your payroll records and submitted.
- The arrears position in writingWhat is owed in contributions, and what interest and penalties the Fund is likely to add. You get a number before you commit to anything with them.
- The termination declarationCompleted properly for the person trying to claim, so that once the record is clean their claim can actually run.
- Follow up until they can claimWe stay with it rather than handing you a submission reference and disappearing.
How it works
- 1Order and send us what you havePayslips, bank records, whatever exists. It does not need to be complete or tidy; reconstructing it is the job.
- 2We find out where the record actually standsWe check what the Fund holds and come back to you with the gap and the likely arrears before anything is filed.
- 3We register, declare and follow throughWe review the records, prepare outstanding employer submissions where the system permits, and explain the next employer and claimant steps. Department and claim outcomes remain outside our control.
Not sure this is the right one for you? Ask us first and you get a written answer within one business day.
Why waiting costs more
Contributions are owed from the date the employment started, not from the date you discover the problem, so the debt to the Fund does not shrink by leaving it. Interest and penalties run on top. Meanwhile the person who cannot claim has no income, and an unregistered employer starts any CCMA dispute from a very poor position.
There is also the part employers underestimate. If UIF was deducted from someone’s wages and never paid over to the Fund, that is not an administrative oversight, it is an offence under the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act. Coming forward and fixing it is a different conversation from being found.
What this does not fix
Cleaning up an employer record may help address the employer-side information needed for a claim. It does not guarantee they are paid, because that still depends on the ordinary rules: they need credit days, the reason the job ended has to qualify, and they must claim within twelve months of their last working day. If that twelve months has already passed, no amount of backdating brings the claim back, and we will tell you that at the record check stage rather than after you have paid the Fund.
The claim itself is also theirs to lodge. We fix your side; they claim free, in their own name, using our free step by step guide.
What we will need from you
Most of this is reconstruction, so send what you have rather than what you think we want. Gaps are normal and we work around them.
- Your details as the employerCIPC registration number, or your identity number if you are a household or trade in your own name, and your UIF reference number if one was ever issued.
- The person who cannot claimFull names and identity number exactly as on the identity document, the date they started, and their last day worked.
- Why the employment endedResignation, dismissal, retrenchment, contract expiry or death. It sets the reason code and decides whether they can claim at all.
- Whatever payroll records existPayslips, a wage book, bank statements showing the wages going out, anything. This is what the backdated declarations get built from.
- Whether UIF was deducted from their wagesBe straight with us about this. Deducting it and not paying it over is an offence under the Contributions Act, and it changes how we approach the Fund rather than whether we help.
- Anyone else who worked for you in those periodsDeclarations cover everybody employed at the time, not only the person who is complaining.
- Your PAYE reference number, if you have oneArrear contributions are paid to SARS on the EMP201 if you are registered for PAYE, or directly to the UIF if you are not.
Frequently asked questions
I deducted UIF but never paid it over. What happens now?
You owe it, with interest and penalties, from the date the employment started. It is also an offence under the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act rather than a paperwork slip. The practical position is that employers who come forward and regularise are dealt with as a collection matter, and the longer it runs the larger it gets.
Can UIF declarations be backdated?
Yes. Late registration and backdated declarations are routine, because a great many small employers register only when something forces them to. The Fund will normally accept them and then assess what is owed for the periods concerned.
My former employee is phoning me every day. How fast can this move?
The record check is quick, usually within a few days of getting your payroll information. How long the Fund then takes to update its records and let the claim run is outside our control. What we can do immediately is give both of you a written picture of where it stands, which normally takes the temperature down considerably.
Is it too late if they stopped working more than a year ago?
For unemployment benefits, probably. The claim must be lodged within twelve months of the last working day, and fixing the record afterwards does not restart that clock. It is still worth regularising, because the contributions remain owed and the exposure does not go away, but we will be straight with you about what it will and will not achieve.
What will I actually have to pay the Fund?
It depends on how many people, over how long, and at what wages, so we will not pretend to a number before looking. The contribution is two percent of remuneration in total, one percent from the employee and one percent from you, capped at the earnings ceiling of R17 712 a month. We give you the calculated arrears in writing before you commit to anything.
Can you do this for a domestic worker?
Yes, and households are a large share of this work. A domestic worker, gardener or nanny working more than 24 hours a month makes you an employer with the same duties as any business, and very few households ever registered.
While you are here
Employer registration and contribution duties are set by the Unemployment Insurance Act 63 of 2001 and the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act 4 of 2002; section 10(1) of the Contributions Act requires employers to register. Failing to pay over deducted contributions is an offence under that Act. The contribution ceiling of R17 712 per month has applied since 1 June 2021 and is adjusted by the Minister from time to time. Arrear contributions, interest and penalties are determined by the Fund and are payable to it directly; they are not included in our fee. Benefit claims are lodged by the claimant personally. This is administrative assistance, not legal or tax advice.